Lil' Ladybug Treats!

 We made a really fun treat to go along with one of our favorite books today.  I love anything from Eric Carle and I knew The Grouchy Ladybug would be a must for insect week.  What else could we do but make some cute, tasty Lil' Ladybug Treats of our own? :)

I saw this idea years ago in the Family Fun magazine and instantly fell in love!  Not only are these little guys super cute, but they are a great after school snack as well :)

To get started you take some strawberries and hull out the center.  I just used my potato peeler, and then I sliced them in half.

Once you have your strawberries ready to go you take a bunch of grapes, cut them in half, and using toothpicks stick them into your strawberries to make the ladybugs' heads.

Then I let my kids get in on the fun and squish mini-chocolate chips into the strawberries for the ladybugs spots.  This is also a great way to work on basic math skills like counting...the kids love counting how many spots each ladybug has (right before they eat them :)

After our ladybugs were ready to go, we snuggled up on the couch with a great book and a yummy snack...is there anything better in life?! ;)

I hope you liked our ladybug treats...they were certainly a big hit at our house :)  

Make sure you keep coming back!  The rest of the week we are focusing on OUR personal favorite insect...Butterflies!!  Well...that may not be Britton's fave..but he humors us girls ;)  

Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

Linking up HERE

Worm Paintings!

  We did a really fun, simple craft this morning that the kids LOVED!!  I like to call  it....

Worm Painting! :)

 Before we started we talked about how worms get around.  We all agreed they don't walk, fly or swim...they just kind of wriggle.  We created some real masterpieces by dipping our "worms" in paint and wriggling them all around our papers. 

All you need for this craft are some pieces of yarn, different colored paint and some white sheets of paper.

Then the kids covered the yarn pieces in paint and wriggled them ALL over their papers!

Yep...this may get a little messy :)  There was some paint flung around...but it wiped up easy enough :)

One look at these faces and you can see our Worm Paintings were a smashing success!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Come by again tomorrow...we are focusing on ladybugs and you won't want to miss it! :)

Linking up HERE

Insect Week...it doesn't have to be complicated!

Hey everyone!!  I am so excited to be back on track and here with some fun ideas on teaching your kids all about insects!

One thing I wanted to point out today is that doing weekly themes and different activities with your kids does NOT need to be a huge, time-consuming deal!  

Some weeks I feel like I have a lot of great, unique ideas and I am excited to see them come to fruition.  Other weeks I can only think up really simple or un-original activities...but here is what I am realizing:

My kids couldn't care less if its a super original idea.

They don't care if its super cute and matches our theme perfectly.

What they care about is spending some quality time with mom.    That's it.  So even though the things we did today were not all my creations and didn't take that much effort...they made for some wonderful memories with my kiddos.  They learned something new, and we spent some quality time together...isn't that what its all about?! :)

First up, years ago I found this song all about different insects sung to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.  I love how it talks about a bunch of different bugs...its a great way to introduce some your younger children may not be familiar with.

Once I found my song I wanted some visuals to go with it.  I just googled insect coloring pages and found a coloring page to match each verse in the song.  Then I colored, cut and laminated them all.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...it seems like a lot of work.  But once you have it...you have it forever!!  I remember doing this with my oldest daughter when she was 3...she is getting ready to turn 7 next week :)  Its been wonderful to add new fun activities each year...but also have some in my Activities Binder that I can pull out at a moments notice.

I passed out three insects to each child and as we sang each verse, they would hold up their insect and do some actions we made up.

After we were done I told the kids we were going to have Movie and Snack Time!  Oh man...were they excited!!

For the snacks...not super original...but SUPER yummy :)

Ants on a Log!  Oh yeah...we don't do any raisins at this house...its chocolate all the way! :)

Then we ALL sat down together and watched one of my favorite Pixar movies...

It was really fun to point out to the kids all the different bugs in the movie...especially the ones we had learned about in our song :) 

One thing I realized was how RARE it is for me to sit and watch a movie with my kids.  Usually, if they are watching a show I am desperately trying to get some things done.  It was wonderful to snuggle up with them on the couch, eat our yummy snacks, and watch a favorite movie.  These are the things I will miss when they are all grown :)

So even though these ideas aren't TOO original...I thought I would share what we did today to learn about insects :)  Have a great night everyone and keep coming back!  We focused on my baby girls first birthday tonight, but next week I will have a new Family Home Evening and we still have LOTS more fun insect activities and treats.  Have a great night!!

Linking up HERE